Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)

by Martha Wells

It was the logical choice, it was the obvious choice, and I would still rather peel my human skin off than do it. I was going to have to do it.

I looked at myself in the mirror for a long time. I told myself I still looked like a SecUnit without armor, hopelessly exposed, but the truth was I did look more human. And now I knew why I hadn’t wanted to do this. It would make it harder for me to pretend not to be a person.

My human parts were experiencing a cold prickling that wasn’t comfortable. This place was creepy. I reminded myself that the terrible thing that had most likely happened here was me. Somehow that didn’t help.

I wanted to bury my face in my hands, sink down to the floor, and slip into my media, but I didn’t. After twelve long seconds, the intense feeling subsided.

I had intended to just stand there and stare at her, which is what SecUnits do to clients who have just performed an act of stupidity so profound it approaches suicide which they ordered us not to stop them from doing. But she looked like she knew she had been stupid, and I had to know. “What happened?”

Young humans can be impulsive. The trick is keeping them around long enough to become old humans. This is what my crew tells me and my own observations seem to confirm it.

I had never had a human touch me, or almost touch me, like this before and it was deeply, deeply weird.

was too frozen to respond. After three seconds, ART added, She’s frightened. You are a reassuring presence. I was still too frozen to answer ART, but I upped my body heat.

“Give the sexbot a verbal command to obey me until further notice. Try to give it any other command and I’ll rip your tongue out.” Tlacey huffed out a breath, then said, “Unit, obey the crazy rogue SecUnit until further notice.” To me, she said, “You need to get better threats.” I put a hand on the nearest chair seat and shoved myself to my feet. “I don’t make threats, I’m just telling you what I’m going to do.”

I was used to taking orders from humans and trying to mitigate whatever damage their stupid ideas did to them, but I had wanted to work with a group again, I had enjoyed how they had listened to me, I had put my need to get to RaviHyral above the safety of my clients. I was just as shit at being a security consultant as any human.